Category: thailand

My trip in Thailand is over. In fact it ended about a week ago, I’m just being lazy/recovering from the worst thing about travelling, and as it happens what this blog post is dedicated to; airports.

I know I’m not alone with this opinion, airports, and flying in general, sucks. The invention of teleportation couldn’t come soon enough in my eyes, something like in Star Trek, I’d love to be beamed to my location by Scotty. But unfortunately this isn’t the Star Trek universe, and because of this depressing fact we have to deal with airports in all their hellish glory. From people walking with about 5 too many bags so you can’t get past them and are stuck behind their pace of around 1.4 kmph (woah that was a mouthful), to having to run what feels like a marathon to actually get out of the place, or to your connecting flights; airports really are the bane of my existence, and you’re about to find out why.

It’s safe to say my airport experience was one of the worst. Missing my flight home by literally 5 minutes, absolutely ridiculous I know, and therefore having to spend an extremely gruelling 10 hours in this fear inducing hell on earth. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit over dramatic, but you get the picture, it was horrible. Not only that though, as you can well imagine flights from Thailand to the UK are rather expensive, £400 in fact, aka a whole lot of money to lose for just being a pathetic 5 minutes late. So, it was 8am (2am UK time) and I’m panicking like mad as I have no idea how, or when, I’m going to be able to get home. Initially I was told there were no flights to Birmingham until the next day, but then I had somewhat of a lightbulb moment and realised I could just fly to London and get the train to Coventry, so that’s what I did. Forgetting of course that I would have to negotiate the treacherous London Underground, at rush hour may I add, with all my bags, not good. It was a long process, highly inconvenient, definitely not good for the blood pressure, however; believe it or not, it was quite the adventure, and actually a good experience. Well, at least it makes a decent story, ey. Looking back I’m not actually sure how I passed the time in the airport, because the 10 hours didn’t actually feel that long, the fits of fidgety boredom were saved for the flights themselves, god I hate flying.

So yeah, I made it home. Not only did I make it home, but I made it home alive and relatively uninjured, to my family’s surprise. I’m pretty sure they were taking bets on how long I’d last out there, and to be honest, I don’t blame them. I hope you enjoyed this post, just a short one to let you know I’m back and will be writing about my various escapades in the very near future, so there’s something to look forward to. In the meantime be happy and keep smiling, Harrison 🙂

One thing I wanted to do in Thailand was visit the temples, and they did not disappoint.

As someone who has taken interest in Buddhism in the past, it was fascinating for me to actually be in a Buddhist place of worship and see the monks kitted in their orange robes and going about there daily lives, lives which are incredibly different to the ones we live, it’s quite amazing to see the contrast. There was something special about being there, it’s hard to describe, but you could feel the connection. You may think visiting the temples is just looking at the buildings and leaving, but it’s so much more than that. Yes the buildings and archetecture are beyond beautiful but more importantly, at least for me, was the educational side of the visits. The temples I visited in Bangkok were Wat Traimit and Wat Pho and both were very informative about Buddhist traditions and how the temples were built and when etc. Wat Traimit featured an absolutely mesmorising Golden Buddha, the largest in the world in fact, which was 14ft and estimated to be over 600 years old, and many of that time it spent covered in stucco to protect it from Burmese invaders in Ayyuthaya. You could tell how much the Buddhists respected and worshipped this statue, it was somewhat divine and I throughouly enjoyed being in the presence of such important history. In comparison to others, this is a relatively small temple, however it makes up for that on beauty, so you will be able to get those Instagram shots. Outside of the temple are various souvenirs stands, some of which offer some very nice memorabilia that you wont find anywhere else in Thailand, so I’d definitely recommend having a quick look around. I purchased a little something myself, of course Wat Traimit is also conveniently located next to Chinatown, so it was awesome to head straight from the temple to the hectic streets of Chinatown.

The second temple I visited was Wat Pho. This is located right next to the Grand Palace and has a lot more to see and do than Wat Traimit and, because of that, is a lot more touristy. The main attraction of course is the reclining Buddha, it is huge, 46 metres long to be precise. Wat Pho is also home to the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand, there are literally hundreds and not to mention the best Thai massage you can find in Bangkok, or so I’ve heard I didn’t actually get one. What is cool about this temple is that it was, and still is to an extent, a school for medicine and was in fact the first ever site for public education in Thailand. Again so much history and if you go make sure to throughouly look around and read all the information on display as it most definitely makes your visit far more worthwhile.

So yeah, I loved visiting a few of Bangkok’s temples, they really are wonderful places and something everyone visiting Thailand should at least consider, whether you are interested in Buddhism, history or even just photography, it is certainly worth it.

Hope you enjoyed this post, sorry it’s late, been busy haha. And I just realised this sounds like a tripadviser review, my bad :/. Keep smiling, Harrison.
Wat Traimit:

Okay. So day 1 & 2 in Bangkok: Thailand are over and already it has been a pretty hectic experience. From being attacked by vicious wild animals to enjoying extremely cheap food at a delicious vegan restaurant; my experience, like Bankok itself, has been crazy.

Day 1 (well 2 days really however I am counting it as 1 due to it being my blog meaning I can do as I please, sorry for the tangent) consisted of the actual journey to Bangkok itself, and I have come to the realisation that I’m not a fan of long haul flights. Granted the service provided by Air India (not sponsored) was really good, it’s just, and anyone who knows me can vouch for this, I’m incredibly figety and can’t sit still for more than 5 minutes. That combined with the fact that I fiddle (sounds dodgy but I couldn’t think of another word) with everything in sight made for an unpleasant experience both for me, and the people around me. Although I did knock back a few whiskeys which helped a substantial amount, I must admit.
So after 15 hours flying and a 3 hour stop over in New Delhi, I landed in Bangkok, eager as ever to get to my apartment so I could sleep off the impending jet lag that would come to make me it’s bitch for the next 24 hours. But it wasn’t that simple. Suvarnabhumi Airport is rather huge and to get to the exit you have to trek, what feels like, 10km of escalators and hallways and negotaite your way past numerous security guards, checks and finally, immigration. After all that’s over you are finally free, free to roam Bangkok and it’s not so welcoming 30 degrees of pure humidity. Yayyy…
From there I went and got a taxi, they actually had an extremely efficient method for booking a taxi so that didnt take long, thank god. 25 minutes later, and only £2 poorer, I reached my accommodation, gratefully put on the life saving air conditioning, cooked some noodles I had purchased from 7-Eleven, before going to bed and taking a much needed sleep.
Day 2 (1.5) was basically me just trying to recover from fatigue and severe jet lag. My apartment was way out the way from anything anyway so I didn’t mind using this day to just recover.
Day 3 (2) is when the adventure really began. Me being me I forgot checkout was at 11 so the girl who owns the apartment walked in on me… In minimal clothing, but she was super nice so it was okay, despite the awkwardness. I then got a taxi to my new apartment, but due to language barriers I had to walk 40 minutes to find the B&B as apparently I didn’t explain it quite clearly enough. Bearing in mind Bangkok is hot, like really hot, and busy, like super busy, so this was not a fun experience By the end of it I could wring my shirt out it was that sweaty. However I finally found my apartment, and what a surprise it was. Located in a shop which sells mirrors, oddly enough, and decorated from top to bottom with quite beautiful stained glass windows and ceilings, it was a lovely apartment and somewhere I was very grateful to be spending my next 3 nights. Not to mention the fact my host was an absolute star, answering all of my many questions, some of which quite stupid; for example, asking for the wifi password 4 times because I had forgot it by the time I walked up the stairs, and providing me with a very good vegan breakfast. I cant thank her enough.
Now it was time, time to start the Bangkok adventure, which meant crossing busy roads. If you’ve ever been to Bangkok you will know that crossing roads is an art form, an art form that you kind of have to master in a very short period of time, and I’d like to say I have done just that. There are literally thousands of cars and even more motorbikes at all times as well as minimal crossing assistance and traffic lights. What I have learnt is that you basically just have to go for it. Walk out into the road with your arm adjacent to your body and palm facing towards the car/s, they will always stop. Thankfully the drivers are very polite with pedestrians in the fact they just accept this, and do actually stop with no fuss or bother, but obviously as a first time tourist to Bangkok, the roads were somewhat daunting to begin with. Of inside just walk right behind a local, that’s what I did to begin with.

I didn’t really have much time left now, all of this had took me to about 3pm but thankfully where I was staying was very close (just 2 minutes on the MRT) to Lumpini Park, which is kind of like Central Park in New York only in Bangkok, and not New York. Everything I have read/watched regarding Bangkok recommended a visit to Lumpini Park, and it didn’t dissapoint. Packed full of people doing exercise, lush grass and flowerbeds and glistening lakes and streams, it was quite wonderful. It took me around 1 hour and a half to walk around the whole park, although I obviously did stop to take many pictures, watch local Thai’s dance and practise Tai Chu as well as interact with wild animals. Speaking of wild animals, there was an evil turtle which was not only extremely ugly, but massively aggressive. I only wanted a nice close up picture of his devil like face and he went straight for my throat, snapping his jaw like a madman. I took that as a warning to stay away and quickly retreated, he seemed to mean business. Maybe he just didn’t like the name Iggy. But yeah the park was amazing, very chilled and exactly what I needed after that long night and stressful start to the day.
That traumatic experience with devil turtle left me hungry so I hopped on the MRT again to a nearby Vegan restaurant I had been eager to try since my arrival, ‘May’s Veggie Kitchen’. Upon my entrance I was greeted with lovely smiling waiters/waitresses and a menu packed full of a variety of vegan options. From any kind of fake meat to traditional Thai meals, there was something for everyone. I ordered the Thai Green Curry and a water and about 20 minutes later (the perfect waiting time imo) my huge portion of steamy green curry and rice entered my vicinity and I couldn’t have been happier, it was truly delicious. Only cost me around 200 baht, which is little over £4 and in my opinion an absolute bargain. Although one tip, in Asia, spicy means spicy, so be wary when ordering ‘spicy’ food. I made that mistake in India.

So that was the end of my first proper day in Thailand, and what a day it was. Bangkok is such a worlwind of a city. You can hate it one minute and love it the next, but it is definitely somewhere you should try and visit if you want to experience somewhere completely unique and bursting with culture.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and stay tuned for the next post. Keep smiling, Harrison 🙂